Catch for jewelry



July 14,1959 H. HYMAN 2,894,306

CATCH FOR JEWELRY Filed May 6, 1958 j! fly! 12 .M 4 v Z5 F g 20 I I a -21 1 1??- 1 I A J 23 ."T'- H 18 4 14 10 a4 if $5 4 32 INVE R.

f/arr/V 4 44 United States Patent CATCH FOR JEWELRY Harry Hyman, Waterbury, Conn. Application May s, 1958, Serial No. 133,401

4 Claims- (Cl. 24-230 The present invention relates to a catch for articles of jewelry and more particularly to a catch which enables ends of an article of jewelry to be detachably connected together.

Catches of the present type are commonly employed in necklaces, for example, wherein they provide the necessary separation of the ends of the necklace to enable the necklace to be positioned in place and then when the catch is closed and locked, to secure the ends of the necklace together. Most catches now used, however, are diflicult to operate unless the manipulation of the parts can be observed. In addition to being difiicult to operate, they normally fail to provide with sufficient certainty an indication whether or not they are securely closed to prevent accidental opening and hence probable loss of the article of jewelry.

An object of the present invention is to provide a catch for releasably connecting together the ends of an article of jewelry in which the catch may be operated with ease and facility and in which the catch is decorative to add to the beauty of the article instead of detracting therefrom.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a catch of the above type in which he catch indicates by a positioning of the parts whether or not it is locked and in which the catch is unsusceptible to accidentally opening or releasing.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a catch of the above type which is economical to manufacture and which fully performs its intended function over a long period of use.

In attaining the above objects there is provided a catch composed of two pieces, a male piece and a female piece. The pieces are separable and each is attached to an end of an article of jewelry, such as a necklace, or other article, in which it is desired to open the article for removal or positioning and then join the ends to secure the atricle in place. The male piece is formed to provide a pair of spaced, aligned rods which are telescopingly received within a pair of spaced, aligned passageways in the female member.

In order to maintain the pieces locked together, there is a latch on the female piece which has an enlarged plug portion which fits within a groove formed in the male piece to prevent separation of the male piece from the female piece. While the latch plug is positioned between the spaced passageways when the pieces are locked together, the latch includes a handle which is formed by a wire link on which are secured decorative elements. These elements in addition to increasing the decorativeness of the latch also provide a graspable part for enabling operation of the latch to facilitate the movement of the plug portion from the groove to enable separation of the pieces.

Other features and advantages will hereinafter appear.

In the drawing:

Figure 1 is an elevation of the catch of the present invention, somewhat enlarged, showing the pieces secured together.

Fig. 2 is a side section taken on a plane passing centrally and transversely through the catch as shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a section taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is an end view of the catch taken on the line 4-4 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 5 is a view of the catch of the present invention showing the pieces separated with the latch on the female piece in its locking position.

Fig. 6 is an exploded perspective view of the catch.

Referring to the drawing, the catch of the present invention is generally indicated by the reference numeral 10 and includes a male piece 11 and a female piece 12 which are separable from each other and yet can be detachably connectible together. The male piece is attached to an end 13 of a necklace, such as a pearl necklace 14, while the female piece 12 is attached to the other end 15 of the necklace. It will be appreciated that separation of the pieces accordingly opens the necklace while connecting the pieces together closes the necklace.

Referring to Figs. 4, 5 and 6, the male piece 11 is unitary and substantially U-shaped providing two spaced, aligned circular rods 16 which constitute the legs of the piece and a flat bight portion 17 having an aperture 18. There is also formed a groove 19 between the two rods 16 at the bight portion for a purpose which will be hereinafter understood, it being appreciated that the groove 19 is wider than the slot formed between the rods 16. The necklace terminates in a semispherical metallic bead 20 having a semicircular arm :21 which passes through the aperture 18 to connect the male piece to the end 13 of the chain.

The female piece 12 is also U-shaped and has a U- shaped member 22 having a flat, bight portion 23 formed with an aperture 24 through which passes an arm 25 of a connecting bead 26 similar to the bead 20. Two short legs 27 extend in spaced parallel relation from the bight portion 23 and secured thereon are a pair of tubular members 28. The tubular members are open at their ends opposite the bight portion and thus form a pair of spaced, aligned passageways in the female piece. It will be appreciated that the parts of the pieces are dimensioned such that the spaced rods 16 of the male piece 11 can be telescopingly received within the passageways formed by the tubular members .28 of the female piece.

In order to secure together the two pieces, there is provided a latch, generally indicated by the reference numeral 29. This latch, as shown, includes an operating arm 30 terminating in opposite extended cars 31 at one end and an enlarged cylindrical plug portion 32 at the other end formed by reversely bending upon itself a piece of flat metal. The cars project within apertures 33 formed in the tubular members 28 and thus the arm 30 is capable of pivoting from the full line position shown in which the plug portion 32 is positioned within the groove 19 while the arm is located between the tubular members 28. The two pieces are accordingly locked together since the plug portion is wider than the width between the rods 16. To unlock the pieces, the arm 30 is pivoted to the dotted line position shown in Fig. 2 wherein the plug portion is removed from the groove and positioned thereabove.

To facilitate operating of the arm and add decorativeness to the catch, there is provided a handle 54 composed of a wire link 35 on which are secured a plurality of decorative elements 36 such as beads corresponding to the beads of the necklace. The wire link 35 has one end enclosed in an eyelet 37 formed by reversely bending a piece of wire and securing the same within the plug portion of the arm as, for example, by bending slightly the ends of the wire as. indicated by the reference numeral 38. The other end portion of the link 35 has an intermediate: portion, 39 extending between the tubular members 28. adjacentfthe bight. portion23, and terminates in a reversel'y bent end portion 40 extending along the bottom surface of and between the tubular members. In order to maintain this end portion 40 of the wire link in place it is flattened as at 41 to increase its width and prevent it from being withdrawn up. through between the tubular members since its width is made to :be larger than the distance between the tubular members. It will be appreciated that the major portion of the wire link 35 is coextensive with the arm 30 but spaced thereabove and that by positioning the elements .36 on this portion, they form agraspable portion. of the latch to operate the arm in. addition to being exposed to view when the latch is closed. Moreover, a mere feeling of the latch is sufiicient to detect whether or not the latch is closed to lock the pieces together, since unless the beads and tubular members are substantially parallel, the latch can be considered to be opened.

As shown, particularly in Fig. 6, the open ends of the tubular passageways are recessed as at 42 to enable the plug portion to be positionable in the groove.

' It will accordingly be appreciated that there has been disclosed a catch which is utilized to releasably secure together the ends of an article of jewelry. The catch of the present invention by'reason of it having a decorative protruding handle on the latching mechanism is both easy to operate and adds to the beauty of the article of: jewelry. In addition the latching mechanism is unsusceptible to operation accidentally and it will be apparent that the pieces may be secured together with ease and facility.

Variations and modifications may be made within the scope of the claims and portions of the improvements may be used without others.

I claim:

1. A catch for releasably connecting together the ends of an article of jewelry comprising a first piece connectible to one end of the article, said piece including a U- shaped member and a tube on each leg with the tubes providing a pair of spaced, aligned, tubular passageways, a second piece connect-ible to the other end of the article,

said piece being substantially U-shaped with the legs forming a pair of spaced, aligned rods, the rods being slidable into and out of the? tubes, a latch including an arm having one end formed to provide ears which are pivotally supported in an aperture formed in each of the tubes and the other end of the arm providing an enlarged plug portion, a groove formed at the bight portion of the second piece and being larger'than the space between the rods, said latch beingoperablebetween an open position in which it permits separation between the pieces and a closed position in which the plug portionis positioned in the groove to lock the two pieces together.

2. A catch for releasably connecting together the ends of an article of jewelry comprising a. first piece connectible to one end of the article, said piece including a U-shaped member and a tube on each leg with the tubes providing a pair of spaced, aligned, tubular passageways, a second. piece connectible to the other end of the article, said piece being substantially U-sliaped Y with the legs forming a pair of spaced, aligned rods, the. rods being slidable into and out of the tubes, a latch including an arm having one end formed to provide cars which are pivotally supported in an aperture formed in each of the tubes and the other end of the arm providing an enlarged plug portion, a groove formed at the bight portion of the second piece and being larger than the space between the rods, said latch being operable between an open position in which it permits separation between the pieces and a closed position in which the plug portion is positioned in the groove to lock the two pieces together and the arm is positioned between the two tubes.

3. The invention as defined in claim 2 in which the latch includes a handle coextensive with the arm but spaced therefrom to enable manipulation of the latch when the arm is positioned between the two tubes.

4. The invention as defined in claim 3 in which the handle consists of a wire link secured at one end at the plug portion and extending along but spaced above the arm and terminating in a portion disposed beneath the tubes, and there are decorative elements secured on the wire link.

1,860,186 Kestenman May 24, 19-32 Keller e Aug. 6, 188-9 

